Briefs
FrontLines - July 2009
Bangladesh Evacuations Saved Countless Lives
DHAKA, Bangladesh—Cyclone Aila hit Bangladesh in late May of this year but effective early warning systems
and evacuation measures seem to have saved countless lives, according to U.N. news service IRIN.
The government delivered clothing, water purification tablets, and food to those affected, while the Directorate General of Health Services has dispatched some 700 medical teams to the field.
But a key factor was the creation around 20 years ago of an emergency system to inform those in low-lying areas of an impending storm surge and flooding.
The government also built a series of concrete two-story storm shelters—used as schools in normal times—where people could ride out the floods.
100 Million More People Hungry in South Asia
NEW DELHI, India—The number of hungry people in South Asia has increased by 100 million in the past two years, due in part to high food and fuel prices and the global economic slowdown, a UNICEF report said June 2.
More than 400 million people
are now chronically hungry in South Asia, the region’s highest level in 40 years, the U.N. children’s agency report said, according to Reuters.
Calorie intake has remained stagnant or fallen in many countries despite rising per capita incomes.
More than 1.18 billion people, or three-quarters of the region’s population, survive on less than $2 a day, the report said. Nearly half of children under five are malnourished,
the worst level in the world including sub-Saharan Africa.
Millions of jobs have been lost in the region since the financial crisis hit, especially in the export sector as global demand fell. The report covered
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
H1N1 Spreads
The H1N1 virus is spreading
rapidly in the Southern Hemisphere and through Europe, with Britain projected to reach 100,000 daily cases by the end of August, the Associated Press reported July 6.
The virus is even showing signs of rebounding in Mexico. Global health officials met July 2 in Cancun for a two-day summit to design strategies for battling the pandemic. Nations attending include the United States, Canada, China, Britain, and Brazil.
Mexican officials said tourism
has plunged in Cancun even though the country shut schools and businesses for five days in May to control the epidemic.
The World Health Organization said Mexico is safe for travel but that the country is starting to see an increase in cases of H1N1 in isolated areas such as the states of Yucatan and southern Chiapas.
US Joins UN Human Rights Council
On June 20, the United States joined the U.N. Human Rights Council, signaling a major shift in line with President Barack Obama’s aim of a new era of engagement, the Associated Press reported.
The Council suffered wide criticism for failing to confront human rights abuses in repressive
countries and for acting primarily to condemn Israel, AP reported.
By joining, “the U.S. may succeed in breaking diplomatic deadlocks where European countries failed,” the AP added.
The United States pledged to work constructively in the 47-member council, according to Mark C. Storella, the top U.S. diplomat to the U.N. organizations
in Geneva.
Uganda to Ban Female Genital Mutilation
Uganda will pass a law banning
female genital mutilation, which is rampant among pastoralist
tribes in the country’s eastern region, President Yoweri Museveni said in a statement July 3.
In a resolution passed last year, the United Nations called female genital mutilation a violation
of the rights of women and said that the practice increases the risk of HIV transmission,
as well as maternal and infant mortality.
Pakistanis View Taliban as Critical Threat
A survey of public opinion in Pakistan has shown that more than 80 percent of Pakistanis view the Taliban and al-Qaida as a critical threat to the country, the Associated Press reported July 2
Socio-Economic Development Consultants in Islamabad polled 1,000 people across Pakistan from May 17 to 28 for WorldPublicOpinion.org. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
According to the survey, 81 percent of Pakistanis believe the activities of the Taliban and other Muslim extremists were a critical threat to the country, up from the 34 percent
polled on the same question
in September 2007.
Furthermore, 82 percent said Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida was also a critical threat, exactly twice as many who thought so two years ago.
Results are seen as marking
a turn in public opinion that stands to bolster the ongoing Pakistani army offensive
against militants close to the Afghan border.
More Civilians Going to Aid Afghans
WASHINGTON—USAID, the Defense Department, and other U.S. agencies are sending
more civilian experts to Afghanistan along with a large surge of U.S. troops, officials said June 18, Reuters reported.
The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, told the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a written
statement that the increase in U.S. civilians indicated a “commitment to supporting Afghan efforts to clear, hold,
and build their country.”
Holbrooke said the State Department and USAID were getting strong responses for advertisements for 125 temporary
or new civilian posts in Afghanistan.
The United States was also working to address Afghanistan’s request for another 650 Afghan and international civil experts, Holbrooke said.
Tightened auditing of aid would curb corruption and measure the effectiveness of the aid programs, he added.
Human Trafficking Report Cites Nigeria’s Gains
The State Department’s 2009 report on how 175 countries deal with trafficking
in persons, released June 16, has noted important gains by Nigeria in preventing the abuses of people for labor
and sex.
The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) study elevated Nigeria to Tier 1 status for meeting the “minimum standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking,” which it called a modern form of slavery.
The Nigerian government doubled the number of trafficking
offenders convicted, improved assistance to victims,
demonstrated strong awareness-raising efforts, and increased funding to its anti-human trafficking organization,
the National Agency for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), according to news reports.
From news reports and other sources. ★
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